The 1998 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 5 April 1998 at the Suzuka Circuit. The rookie Max Biaggi surprised everyone by winning his first ever GP500 race.
500 cc classification Source: Pos. No. Rider Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Max Biaggi Marlboro Team Kanemoto Honda 21 44:59.478 1 25 2 2 Tadayuki Okada Repsol Honda Honda 21 +5.416 3 20 3 50 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha Racing Team Yamaha 21 +5.502 6 16 4 4 Àlex Crivillé Repsol Honda Honda 21 +10.532 10 13 5 21 Kyoji Nanba Yamaha Team Rainey Yamaha 21 +10.879 2 11 6 3 Nobuatsu Aoki Suzuki Grand Prix Team Suzuki 21 +13.479 8 10 7 9 Alex Barros Honda Gresini Honda 21 +20.266 13 9 8 8 Carlos Checa Movistar Honda Pons Honda 21 +20.439 5 8 9 11 Simon Crafar Red Bull Yamaha WCM Yamaha 21 +20.773 11 7 10 15 Sete Gibernau Repsol Honda Honda 21 +47.101 12 6 11 10 Kenny Roberts Jr. Team Roberts Modenas KR3 21 +1:13.558 15 5 12 7 Doriano Romboni MuZ Roc RennSport MuZ 21 +1:22.856 22 4 13 19 John Kocinski Movistar Honda Pons Honda 21 +1:24.964 9 3 14 5 Norick Abe Yamaha Team Rainey Yamaha 21 +1:25.293 7 2 15 14 Juan Borja Shell Advance Racing Honda 21 +1:59.992 16 1 16 57 Fabio Carpani Team Polini Inoxmacel Honda 20 +1 lap 24 Ret 1 Mick Doohan Repsol Honda Honda 15 Retirement 4 Ret 22 Sébastien Gimbert Tecmas Honda Elf Honda 11 Retirement 20 Ret 88 Scott Smart Team Millar Honda Britain Honda 4 Accident 23 Ret 17 Jurgen van den Goorbergh Dee Cee Jeans Racing Team Honda 1 Retirement 19 Ret 23 Matt Wait FCC TSR Honda 1 Accident 21 Ret 29 Keiichi Kitagawa Suzuki Grand Prix Team Suzuki 1 Retirement 14 Ret 18 Garry McCoy Shell Advance Racing Honda 0 Retirement 18 Ret 28 Ralf Waldmann Team Roberts Modenas KR3 0 Retirement 17 DNS 55 Régis Laconi Red Bull Yamaha WCM Yamaha Did not start Sources:
250 cc classification Source: Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 54 Daijiro Kato Honda 19 41:17.096 1 25 2 50 Shinya Nakano Yamaha 19 +0.896 3 20 3 51 Naoki Matsudo Yamaha 19 +0.962 5 16 4 31 Tetsuya Harada Aprilia 19 +1.094 9 13 5 19 Olivier Jacque Honda 19 +34.301 4 11 6 55 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki 19 +37.035 14 10 7 65 Loris Capirossi Aprilia 19 +37.104 6 9 8 17 José Luis Cardoso Yamaha 19 +43.094 12 8 9 12 Noriyasu Numata Suzuki 19 +43.105 15 7 10 9 Jeremy McWilliams TSR-Honda 19 +43.909 16 6 11 6 Haruchika Aoki Honda 19 +44.000 21 5 12 4 Stefano Perugini Honda 19 +44.067 13 4 13 52 Choujun Kameya Suzuki 19 +44.168 10 3 14 18 Osamu Miyazaki Yamaha 19 +44.637 8 2 15 7 Takeshi Tsujimura Yamaha 19 +44.727 17 1 16 53 Makoto Tamada Honda 19 +53.855 18 17 11 Jürgen Fuchs Aprilia 19 +1:01.999 11 18 37 Luca Boscoscuro TSR-Honda 19 +1:04.359 20 19 24 Jason Vincent TSR-Honda 19 +1:08.853 22 20 14 Davide Bulega Honda 18 +1 lap 26 Ret 25 Yasumasa Hatakeyama Honda 18 Accident 27 Ret 21 Franco Battaini Yamaha 17 Accident 19 Ret 5 Tohru Ukawa Honda 14 Retirement 2 Ret 46 Valentino Rossi Aprilia 10 Retirement 7 Ret 44 Roberto Rolfo TSR-Honda 7 Retirement 25 Ret 16 Johan Stigefelt Suzuki 2 Accident 24 Ret 27 Sebastián Porto Aprilia 1 Accident 23 Ret 41 Federico Gartner Aprilia 0 Accident 28 DNS 8 Luis d'Antin Yamaha Did not start DNS 20 William Costes Honda Did not start OFFICIAL 250cc REPORT
125 cc classification Source: Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 4 Kazuto Sakata Aprilia 18 41:23.963 2 25 2 3 Tomomi Manako Honda 18 +0.156 18 20 3 20 Masao Azuma Honda 18 +0.201 6 16 4 10 Lucio Cecchinello Honda 18 +2.783 7 13 5 53 Noboyuki Osaki Yamaha 18 +26.381 9 11 6 8 Gianluigi Scalvini Honda 18 +26.468 10 10 7 52 Hiroyuki Kikuchi Honda 18 +33.198 12 9 8 5 Masaki Tokudome Aprilia 18 +33.422 11 8 9 51 Takashi Akita Yamaha 18 +33.552 23 7 10 13 Marco Melandri Honda 18 +33.834 14 6 11 9 Frédéric Petit Honda 18 +34.215 19 5 12 62 Yoshiaki Katoh Yamaha 18 +46.152 26 4 13 29 Ángel Nieto, Jr. Aprilia 18 +46.574 16 3 14 54 Kazuhiro Takao Honda 18 +48.281 17 2 15 26 Ivan Goi Aprilia 18 +59.684 20 1 16 17 Enrique Maturana Yamaha 18 +1:03.598 22 17 11 José Ramírez Aprilia 18 +1:12.202 25 18 19 Andrea Ballerini Honda 18 +1:12.287 27 19 18 Paolo Tessari Aprilia 18 +1:21.902 28 20 21 Arnaud Vincent Aprilia 18 +1:28.393 29 21 7 Emilio Alzamora Aprilia 18 +1:33.214 24 Ret 41 Youichi Ui Yamaha 14 Retirement 3 Ret 22 Steve Jenkner Aprilia 13 Retirement 15 Ret 2 Noboru Ueda Honda 12 Retirement 1 Ret 15 Roberto Locatelli Honda 10 Accident 4 Ret 23 Gino Borsoi Aprilia 7 Retirement 13 Ret 16 Christian Manna Yamaha 6 Retirement 30 Ret 32 Mirko Giansanti Honda 4 Accident 8 Ret 50 Yuzo Fujioka Honda 2 Accident 5 Ret 39 Jaroslav Huleš Honda 1 Retirement 21 OFFICIAL 125cc REPORT
Championship standings after the race (500cc)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round one has concluded.
Riders' Championship standings Rider Points 1 Max Biaggi 25 2 Tadayuki Okada 20 3 Noriyuki Haga 16 4 Àlex Crivillé 13 5 Kyoji Nanba 11
Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 1 Honda 25 2 Yamaha 16 3 Suzuki 10 4 Modenas KR3 5 5 MuZ 4
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References